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Daily Associations Between Adolescents’ Race-Related Experiences and Family Processes

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Asian American Parenting

Abstract

This chapter explores how adolescents’ race-related experiences, both positive and negative, cross over into the family context and subsequently structure family-level processes. Using micro-longitudinal daily diary data from 180 Asian American adolescents (58% female, 74% U.S.-born), we found that, on days when adolescents report something bad happening due to their race or ethnicity (e.g., teased, picked on, called names), they also report spending significantly more time with their families. Greater family engagement was also found in the context of positive race-related experiences (e.g., complimented for an outfit, rewarded for participating in a Hmong dance group). Although ethnic identity did not moderate any daily associations, main effects were found whereby strong levels of ethnic identity were related to more family interactions, both in terms of leisure activities and assistance behaviors, as well as getting along with the family. Collectively, our analyses point to critical and complex ways in which adolescents’ daily race-related experiences are intricately linked to their daily family interactions, providing crucial knowledge about the overall cultural and social development of Asian American youth. We discuss further nuances by gender and generational status, as well as the deeper implications of our results, particularly in light of developing effective parenting interventions and programs to best serve Asian American youth and families in the face of possible discrimination and race-related rejection.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, PO Box 7778, Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC, 27109, USA

    Lisa Kiang

  2. Department of Psychology, Willamette University, Smullin 254, 900 State St, Salem, OR, 97301, USA

    Melissa R. Witkow

Authors
  1. Lisa Kiang
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  2. Melissa R. Witkow
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa Kiang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Yoonsun Choi

  2. School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Hyeouk Chris Hahm

Appendix

Appendix

Examples of adolescents’ daily race-related experiences

Type of daily experience

Examples

“Something bad”

Student told me to go back to my country.

Stereotyped.

Someone said “you don’t belong here” when learning about naturalization in Civics.

Someone didn’t like me because I’m Indian.

Someone called me a Ching-Chong.

Someone called me an Asian hooker.

They said that I don’t belong there because I’m too smart.

I was asked if I was a terrorist!

A girl was being racist about me and my boyfriend dating.

“Something good”

I got some money from my uncle, because of New Years.

Everyone said they admired me.

Someone said I was good at math.

They called me “hot.”

A boy didn’t judge me by my race.

While fundraising door to door we encountered several Asian families and were able to speak to them in Chinese and this gave us sales at two houses.

People were interested in my culture in English, we had a discussion.

A boy was saying good things about my background.

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Kiang, L., Witkow, M.R. (2017). Daily Associations Between Adolescents’ Race-Related Experiences and Family Processes. In: Choi, Y., Hahm, H. (eds) Asian American Parenting. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63136-3_6

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